


Kim Donghan (n.) A mess

by aenimdwa



Series: The heartbreak series [3]
Category: HOTSHOT (Band), JBJ (Band), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: College AU, Kenta is only mentioned, M/M, drug usage is hinted, idk I suck at tagging forgive me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 11:43:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16039805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aenimdwa/pseuds/aenimdwa
Summary: Kim Donghan had expected to work on his project alone, but the odds wanted to pair him up with Noh Taehyun.





	Kim Donghan (n.) A mess

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, our third main character who is none other than Kim Donghan~ I'm so sorry about the way I worked around his character for this; I just really dig the idea of exploiting his emo-side??? I might exaggerate it a lot though, so please beware. I'm also sorry for making him suffer in advance fdjgbj.

Head tilted backwards, finger holding down the soft spot below his right eye, gaze fixed on the ceiling, one drop from the tiny bottle falling into his lower eyelid, his eye closing and repeating the same steps for the left one—it seemed like quite a daily routine for Donghan. As he stepped out of the toilet, he felt some eyes who had seen him applying drops staring at him; judging him, probably. Pitying him, maybe. He was not sure yet if he didn’t care, but the one thing for sure was that he had almost gotten used to it.

The day was bright and the sun was shining. An awful kind of weather. He wandered around the campus with his earphones plugged in while considering the possible pros and cons of missing the first class of his fourth semester. It was not just any class, for it was Dance and Composition I; the one subject he had been looking forward to because it seemed challenging. Rumour had it that his professor was strict when it came to missing classes and he was not sure he wanted to step off on the wrong foot this time. After spacing out for what felt like only a few minutes but was actually almost half an hour, he realised he was late for his first class. He used to show up late for almost everything on his first year, but ever since the beginning of this year things had changed. Now, he hated coming in late and feeling all eyes on him; examining him, judging him. This time it was no different. He quickly bowed at his professor and took a seat at the very back of the room. Normally, people would be audacious enough to start whispering things to one another while pointing fingers at him; however, this time the attention was switched to another latecomer who seemed to be anything but shy.

“Excuse me for being so late! I couldn’t find the room and I’m still not completely enrolled, so I had to—”

“It’s alright, Taehyun,” the professor cut off the loud and desperate explanation that the short, black-haired guy was offering with a soft chuckle. “Nice to see you around again. Breathe and take a seat.”

The guy in question seemed slightly taken aback and flustered as he bowed down to their professor, a young woman seemingly on her 30s, and proceeded to take a seat at the very front row. Donghan could hear some very obvious whispering among his classmates who looked delighted for some reason, but he was sitting too far away to be able to pick up anything of what they were saying.

“Alright, I need you to focus back on what I was telling you,” the professor called everyone’s attention. “So, like I was explaining, the course will consist of two main project evaluations: one of them in pairs and the other one individual. In addition, there will be a grade for progress in class since you should work on your projects outside our classes. This course is solely based on practical tasks for you to apply the theory you should’ve acquired by now, so starting next class we’ll meet in one of the practice rooms. I have high expectations set on you,” she glanced at Taehyun. “You better work hard not to disappoint me.”

Donghan tried his best not to lose track of what their professor—Kahi, he was able to hear her repeating along with her office hours and e-mail address—was telling them, but ended up spacing out anyway when the lesson went towards reviewing the main theory that they would be working with during the course.

He only came back to reality when professor Kahi clapped her hands and said, “Okay now, choose who you will be working with for the first project and e-mail me to book a meeting in two weeks from now so I can give you feedback. That’s it for today. Class dismissed.”

As Donghan looked around, he noticed how everyone was quick to glance at a friend or someone they knew in order to pair up for the assignment. He was not let down by this; he was expecting it. The moment he heard there was an assignment in duos, he knew he’d have to most probably do it by himself since there was hardly anyone in that class who was willing to work with him. He picked up his stuff after everyone else was making their way out of the classroom and approached his professor. He waited while keeping some distance from her desk as he saw her talking to the latecomer (Taehyun, was it?).

“Sorry, Taehyun,” she cut him off for a moment to direct her attention towards Donghan. “Is there something you need…?” She gestured for him to give her his name.

“Donghan,” he replied quickly. “Kim Donghan… is my name.”

She smiled at him kindly. “Well, Donghan, tell me what it is.”

“Uh, I was just… About the project in duos, I was wondering if I could maybe do it on my own?” He asked, his tone going up and losing confidence as he finished his sentence awkwardly.

“Funny how Taehyun was just asking me for the same thing,” she looked at the other boy. “Great, then! You two can work together.”

Taehyun looked Donghan up and down, the expression on his face unreadable. Whether he liked or disliked the idea of working together with Donghan, the taller boy had no ways of knowing that. The safe option, though, was that this guy he had never seen before had probably also heard all the shit that people say about him (since even people from other unrelated majors seemed to know) and do anything not to work with him. Just hearing his name, Kim Donghan, must have rang a bell in his head. The irresponsible crackhead Kim Donghan. How many people had given him the cold shoulder so far because they didn’t want to get stuck with someone who people said was unable of committing to an assignment for he preferred to do drugs? Only one glance at Donghan’s report card or a word from people who knew him would’ve been enough to invalidate at least that one rumour, but Donghan wouldn’t bother nor anyone else would bother do that for him. Not that he had anyone close enough to him that would step up for him like that, anyway. Perhaps Kenta would have, but he wasn’t there.

“Yeah, sure,” the shorter boy—Taehyun, said, flashing a small smile.

“That’s good. Kim Donghan and Noh Taehyun, then. Make sure to write me soon to make an appointment. You can go.” Kahi smiled at the two boys and took a seat on her desk to collect her stuff.

Noh Taehyun, it was. Donghan felt like he had heard that name before but couldn’t quite recall when or why. While he focused on trying to remember, he didn’t notice that Taehyun said something about grabbing lunch together. He didn’t agree or refuse, but just kept on walking beside him. As he finally regained all his senses back and took a bite off his sandwich, he finally remembered.

“Ah! Noh Taehyun!” He exclaimed with his mouth too full to say anything else afterwards.

“Yes, that’s me? I bet I’m older than you, though. Aren’t you being a little disrespectful here?”

“I’m- I’m sorry,” Donghan was quick to apologize. “I just now remembered where I’d heard your name before and I didn’t realize I said it-” he stopped mid-sentence as he realized how fast he was speaking. “I’m sorry, sunbae-nim,” he did a little bow and wiped his mouth.

Taehyun looked him dead in the eye and then suddenly burst out in laughter.

“That’s fine! Don’t worry. You’re finally talking,” he took a bite off his sandwich, too. “I was wondering if you were just too high to speak before or if you weren’t the talkative type, but I guess it’s the first option?”

Donghan choked on his soda. “Do you think professor Kahi noticed?”

“Nah, she didn’t. Chill.”

Donghan let out a sigh.

“So, you heard about me, huh? What do they say?”

“Well, I don’t really know much, but I remember something about you being the next Lee Euijin and Oh Gwangsuk of your generation? Or something. Yeah, I think some people made a fuss about you re-joining the program this year? Or so I heard. I think they wanted to invite you to their parties.”

Taehyun chuckled and he almost spat out some of his hamburger.

“People sure can say some crazy stuff. But yeah, I re-joined last semester.”

Donghan hummed. “I see,” he commented with his mouth full.

Both of them continued to chew on their lunch and share unimportant details about their lives that would help them get to know each other better. According to Taehyun, if they were going to choreograph together, it was necessary that they were not strangers to one another so they could create something that was good. Amidst their little talk, Donghan noticed that Taehyun would look to his left side every now and then, very briefly and trying not to make it obvious. However, Donghan, who was always picking up on small details, noticed this and couldn’t help but to look that way, too, when Taehyun wasn’t paying attention. There was a petite red-haired guy sitting a few tables across from them at the cafeteria, laughing loudly with some people that Donghan could recognize as Music and Composition majors.

While Taehyun was talking about how he knew Kahi and why he was taking a second-year subject, Kang Daniel appeared right beside their table out of the blue.

“Hyung, do you have a minute or two?” He asked, not even glancing at Donghan as he seemed pretty busy and interested in talking to Taehyun only.

Taehyun offered Donghan a look that expressed both ‘excuse me for a minute’ and ‘I don’t know what’s going on’. “Yeah, sure,” he said, standing up and following Daniel.

Donghan was unbothered by this and proceeded to finish what he had left of his sandwich. He could not avert his eyes from looking towards where the two dancers were talking, though, as curiosity struck him. He was pretty sure Kang Daniel was a sophomore too since they had taken first year classes together, which meant Taehyun had just left the program when Daniel joined. It was nothing weird for two dancers to know each other and be friends, of course, but the way in which Daniel asked Taehyun to talk with him and the unusual serious look on his face made Donghan feel curious. At some point in their talk, both dancers glanced to their left—to the petite, red-haired guy that was being obnoxiously loud with people from the Music and Composition department. Perhaps he had something to do in all this, but it was not Donghan’s business and just finding out about that was enough to satisfy his curiosity. Daniel did a small bow to Taehyun, whose face looked really tense, and walked away past Donghan.

Donghan directed his gaze towards his soda as Taehyun sat back down in front of him with his fists clenched, he noticed.

“So, where was I?”

Donghan looked up at him and saw his expression back to how it was before: calm and relaxed.

“Ah, right! Professor Kahi,” he took his drink in his hand. “So I failed Dance and Composition I because of reasons and there’s three of those, you know? And I should be taking the third one by next year so I can finally graduate,” he took a sip of his soda. “So, professor Kahi offered to make me able to take the third one if I’m able to do outstandingly well in this course this semester.” He shrugged. “Don’t take her lightly, she can be real scary.”

Donghan laughed. “I see. I’ll work hard to live up to your expectations then, sunbae-nim.” He added in a teasing tone that made Taehyun cringe.

“Come on, you make it awkward. Just call me hyung. I’m sure we’re gonna be good friends after this.” Taehyun smiled.

Donghan was taken aback. He hadn’t expected to get along so well with this guy, and he was now stating as if for a fact that they were going to be friends. Donghan can’t really recall the last time he had someone he thought of as a friend besides _him_ and Kenta who went back to Japan last year. Normally, Donghan wouldn’t have made a big deal out of this event, but he felt something inside him that made him feel excited and uneasy at the same time. As if the walls he’d built between him and other people had been shaken by that innocent comment, somehow.

Donghan decided to brush off his uneasiness and just smiled as he said, “alright, then, hyung.”

**Author's Note:**

> Before anyone points it out, I know Taehyun's name is romanized as Roh Taehyun, but for some reason AO3 only recommends me the 'Noh' version of his last name? I'm new to all this and suck at tagging but still I tried to add it in. For the sake of tags, though, I'm just gonna keep on writing it as Noh Taehyun. Hope it's not too annoying!
> 
> Hopefully, I'll update soon. There are a few more characters that I'll add in. I'd also like to clarify that the universe this story takes place in is influenced by my own experience with universities in my country, and that the relationships among characters and characters themselves are solely based on fiction even though I tried not to make them too OOC.
> 
> Comments are always appreciated~ If there's anything you'd like to highlight, anything you didn't get or anything you'd like to happen, let me know!


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